Before entering the city this time, he had estimated that if the officials did not surrender and committed suicide, their families would probably commit suicide. There is no such thing as preferential treatment of prisoners or good treatment of women and children in this time and space. Once defeated and captured, it was common for men to be beheaded and women to be used as prostitutes. Unless the victor is willing to show mercy: which is rare.
This time, some of the female relatives of Magistrate Dong survived. This is very strange. He couldn't help but ask again: "What's going on?"
"Originally, I wanted to save myself. I didn't know why I hesitated for a while, but when the soldiers from the sky arrived, I rescued him." Wei Bifu said, "I thought I was not determined to die."
"It's no wonder. Ants are greedy for life."
"Yes." Wei Bifu lowered his head and said, "Sir, do you want to call me for questioning?"
"No need," Liu Xiang shook his head, "Just lead the way."
Next to the flower hall, there is another side courtyard, which is where the master lives. Wei Bifu said that the master's whereabouts are unknown at the moment and he has probably gone into hiding.
Behind the flower hall is the place where the prefect lives his daily life, which is no different from that of an ordinary wealthy family. There is also a small garden in the backyard. Slightly decorated with spring stones for resting purposes.
Liu Xiang saw that the furniture in the hall was messy and all kinds of soft clothes were scattered on the floor. The rosewood tea tray fell to the ground, and several shattered cups... You can imagine the fear, chaos, and despair the family went through before Magistrate Dong committed suicide by taking poison. Liu Xiang was very sad.
Wei Bifu carefully accompanied "Master Liu" to check, and saw the soldiers of the Fubo Army who had rushed in early in the morning and were standing guard in front of the steps of each doorway. They all stood upright without squinting. Even though there were various soft golden beads scattered on the ground in front of him, he remained unmoved. I secretly wondered in my heart - if it had been anyone else, the back house would have been fighting each other to snatch the property, and the property would have been robbed to the point where not even a tea cup was left!
Those who were collecting property were another group of pretenders. They were in groups of three. One person carried a small wooden box and carried a bag on his back to transport the property; the other person held an account book and a dip pen, and an ink bottle hung around his neck to record the records. . Another person is responsible for picking up, and every time he picks up something, he has to lift it up and shout.
"Dial the green silver step and shake one!"
"The used blue floral satin is better than a piece of armor!"
"A piece of broken tide silver. I don't know how much it weighs!"
"A bunch of copper coins, over a hundred! Not counted yet!"
…
Such cries kept coming and going in the hall. There is also a special person to monitor. Wei Bifu thought to himself: I heard in the old days that thieves are as fine as a hair, and a penny is like a life, but now it turns out that it is true!
However, he did not dare to express this idea. He just bowed his head and waited for orders. At this time, a staff member who was a naturalized citizen trotted over, stopped in front of Liu Xiang and bowed: "Chief!"
Liu Xiang knew that they were members of the special search team of the Planning Institute. The prefect alone in the yamen probably had a lot of private wealth, and he could make a fortune. Then he said with a smile: "No need to be polite. How long have you been here? Have you taken stock of the treasury?"
"It's been three hours." The cadre said crisply, "Most of the previous ones have been searched, and the treasury will be listed tomorrow. The back house is the focus of today, so we need to check it carefully."
"Not a small gain, right?"
The cadre was a little embarrassed: "To be honest, I didn't gain much. No matter whether it was the master's residence or here, I didn't find a large amount of silver coins. There were quite a few small ones. I'm going to dig up the treasure next."
"Oh, are there any clues?"
"Yes, although many of Governor Dong's family members have fled, his housekeeper and chief attendant have all been captured. We will find them after they are all interrogated - even if it doesn't work, we have a way. We will never let silver grow mold in the ground."
"Okay. As soon as possible. Clean the house for guests. I'm still waiting to use this place."
"Yes, chief. We will do it as soon as possible."
Liu Xiang took a general look at the government office. Seeing that there were many houses and elegant buildings here, and the conditions were much better than those in Wuyangyi, he decided to temporarily locate the Guangzhou Municipal Government here. Although according to the plan, the Senate plans to build a new "Guangzhou New City" on Henan Island, the administrative center will also be located in the new city. But for now, their main work still has to be carried out in the old city.
Instead of having to go to and from the city every time to deal with affairs, it is better to open an office directly here to do things nearby and conveniently.
In fact, Liu Xiang also passed the examination of Guangdong Buzhengxuanshi Yamen, but after thinking about it, it was better to leave it to the Guangdong regional agency of General Wen. Anyway, as the mayor of Guangzhou, in addition to the government offices, I also have the offices of Nanhai and Panyu counties at my disposal. And Guangzhou is the capital of a province. There are countless government offices on the east and west sides of Chengxuan Street, and there are also many large temples in the city. There are plenty of transitional houses, so there is no need to rush to grab a house.
It was immediately decided to locate the Guangzhou Municipal Military Control Commission in Guangzhou Fuyamen. At present, we are asking all the demoted officials and their families who live in the government office to move out as soon as possible. Empty the house.
According to the takeover plan, all the surrendered people, family members and property in the city were placed in the Guangdong Gongyuan on Dashi Street at the foot of Yuexiu Mountain. Gongyuan has a large area and numerous buildings, which is enough to accommodate surrendered and captured Ming Dynasty officials. The more important officials and family members were sent to Guangxiao Temple for screening. All the surrendered generals and troops were sent to Hong Kong Island for reorganization.
Liu Xiang turned around and saw that the flower hall was almost tidied up, so he immediately arranged to receive the descendants from the first prefecture and two counties of Guangzhou in the flower hall. Led by Wei Bifu, the general magistrate of Guangzhou Prefecture. Down below, county magistrates, chief registrars, classics and historians, edicts, rivers, inspections... all kinds of officials who have entered the mainstream but not yet, and the head of the three-six-room scribe team at the county level... are standing densely in the courtyard. But there wasn't even a sound of coughing.
Liu Xiang asked Wei Bifu to roll his name, and everyone came up one by one to see the ceremony. Liu Xiang asked a few questions and then dismissed him. This is not because he is showing off his authority, but in fact, he is trying to understand the general situation of the descendant. See if you can take advantage of it. To his slight disappointment, not only the prefect committed suicide, but also the magistrates of Panyu County in the South China Sea committed suicide. Almost all those who surrendered were Zaza officials.
Miscellaneous officials are far behind in terms of appeal. The Ming Dynasty may not necessarily have "people's support", but it is a fact that "the government's support is in the Ming Dynasty". It would be great if the Foreign Intelligence Service could win over a few local officials to surrender this time. It will have a great effect on future propaganda. After all, only high-ranking officials serve as weather vanes.
However, the whereabouts of other Yamen officials are no longer within Liu Xiang's power. His abacus can only be based on the territory of Guangzhou Prefecture - it would be great if there were real officials in other states and counties under Guangzhou Prefecture who could "come to the light".
At the moment, it seems that Wei Bifu is a good person. Although I don't know what his true ability is, at least he is active enough in "leading the way." You can ask him to help you temporarily.
After receiving the surrender, Wei Bifu went out to report again: "In order to welcome the Holy Envoy, I have prepared gifts to show my sincerity, and I sincerely ask the Senate and Mr. Liu to accept them."
The surrenderers donated ten thousand taels of silver, as well as many precious items, including agarwood, jade belts, red gold jewelry, jade pots and other precious objects. At a rough glance, they were worth tens of thousands of taels of silver.
The gift was divided into two parts, the larger one was dedicated to the Senate, and the smaller one was naturally given to Liu Xiang.
Liu Xiang said: "Everything Wei Bifu and others have presented is a sign of their loyalty. I will accept whatever is presented to the Senate. As for personal gifts, I will not take them. You can take them back each." Wei Bifu and others quickly knelt down. He begged repeatedly on the ground: "My lord, I don't want anything, and I am really uneasy about my humble position. I hope you can give me some appreciation!" Seeing their sincere words, Liu Xiang ordered his secretary to collect one jade pot and return all the rest.
Liu Xiang also "taught" a few words, which was nothing more than telling them to "don't be burdened" and "study hard, accept transformation, and strive to serve the Senate and the people as soon as possible"...
After speaking, he asked the descendants to disperse, leaving only Wei Bifu and a few old officials from the original Yamen of Guangzhou Prefecture and Nanhai Panyu County. I asked about the local people's sentiments in Guangzhou.
Liu Xiang called the personnel from the Planning Institute to count all his belongings and make a register. Even the jade pot he had collected was handed over to the public. The few people who saw this made them secretly wonder: It is said that Australians are greedy for money, but they really care about every penny. However, their elders are all incorruptible. I really don’t know what to think!
Then he casually chatted with the descendants about the basic situation in Guangzhou.
What he is most concerned about is population, which is not only the labor force but also the consumer market. Guangzhou is no better than Qiongshan - Qiongshan's urban population does not exceed 40,000 even now - Guangzhou was a megacity in the 17th century, and just feeding the non-agricultural population was a big deal. Especially since Guangdong has not yet been completely occupied, the food supply from Guangxi will also be interrupted for a long period of time. Find out exactly how many non-agricultural people there are and what the local self-sufficiency rate is for people's livelihood necessities such as grain, firewood, cloth, etc. Only in this way can we organize effective trade supply channels and avoid crises caused by insufficient supply.
However, the feedback received was unsatisfactory. The demographic figures he could obtain were those from the yellow rolls stored by the government offices at the prefecture and county levels - Liu Xiang had already seen the accuracy of the yellow roll numbers in Qiongshan.
According to records in the Yellow Book and estimates by household scribes, there are 38,000 households in Nanhai County and slightly less in Panyu County. There are about 60,000 households in Guangzhou City, with a population of about 200,000. There are probably more real data. The population of the entire Guangzhou Prefecture is approximately between 500,000 and 600,000.
Liu Xiang began to go crazy. Although the Yellow Book listed in detail various names such as military households, craftsman households, and powerful people households, in fact, these household registration classifications had no meaning in the late Ming Dynasty. Military households may not be soldiers, and craftsman households may not be soldiers. They are not necessarily craftsmen, and counting the non-agricultural population requires a lot of imagination.
"We still have to conduct a census." Liu Xiang muttered to himself and wrote this down in his notebook.
After talking for a while, when he was free, his secretary Guo, a naturalized citizen, came in and whispered: "Chief, the young lady of the Dong family wants to see you." (To be continued.)
